Angels come, on joyous pinion

Representative Text

1 Angels come on joyous pinion,
Down the Heav’n’s melodious stair;
Triumphing o’er death’s dominion,
Up to this our lower air.
Christ has risen! Christ has risen!
And hath burst the sepulcher.

2 All in vain, the posted station
Of the armèd soldiery,
All in vain, the faithless nation
Set the seal and watches nigh;
Ye need not fear, ye need not fear,
None can reach where He doth lie!

3 He Himself, from sleep awaking,
Who spontaneous bore the gloom,
Through the seals, and without breaking,
Hath come forth and left the tomb;
Death could not hold, death could not hold
Him born of a virgin’s womb.

4 Lord, with Thee in daily dying
May we die, and with Thee rise;
And on earth, ourselves denying,
Lift our hearts unto the skies,
To sing our God, to sing our God,
Three in One, sole Good and Wise.

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #8602

Translator: Isaac Williams

Isaac Williams was born in London, in 1802. His father was a barrister. The son studied at Trinity College, Oxford, where he gained the prize for Latin verse. He graduated B.A. 1826, M.A. 1831, and B.D. 1839. He was ordained Deacon in 1829, and Priest in 1831. His clerical appointments were Windrush (1829), S. Mary the Virgin's, Oxford (1832), and Bisley (1842-1845). He was Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, from 1832 to 1842. During the last twenty years of his life his health was so poor as to permit but occasional ministerial services. He died in 1865. He was the author of some prose writings, amongst which are Nos. 80, 86 and 87 of the "Oxford Tracts." His commentaries are favourably known. He also published quite a large num… Go to person page >

Author: Nicolas Le Tourneux

Le Tourneux, Nicolas, was born of poor parents at Rouen, April 30, 1640. The uncommon ability he displayed at an early age attracted the notice of M. du Fosset, Maître des Comptes at Rouen, who sent him to the Jesuits' college at Paris, where he made remarkable progress in his studies. He then retired to Touraine, where he passed some time with a pious ecclesiastic in the practice of prayer and penitential exercises. His friend, observing that he had a gift for preaching, advised him to return to Rouen. This he did, and adopted the clerical profession, and was in 1662 admitted to priests' orders by special dispensation, though still under canonical age. He subsequently removed to Paris, where he employed his time in study, and in 1675 obta… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Angels come, on joyous pinion
Latin Title: Adeste, Coelitum Chori
Author: Nicolas Le Tourneux
Translator: Isaac Williams
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Adeste, Coelitum chori. Nicholas le Tourneaux. [Easter.] In the revised Paris Breviary, 1736, this hymn was for the Ferial Office at Matins (Sundays included) in Eastertide, beginning on Low Sunday and continuing to the Feast of the Ascension, and is marked with the initials "N. T." It is also used in like manner in the Lyons and other modern French Breviaries. The Paris Breviary text was reprinted in Card. Newman's Hymni Ecclesiae, 1838 and 1865, and J. Chandler's Hymns of the Primitive Church, 1837, No, 68. [Rev. W. A. Shoults, B. D.]
Translations in common use:—
#1. Angels, come on joyous pinion. By I. Williams, first published in his Hymns translated from the Paris Breviary, 1839, p. 128, in 6 stanzas of 6 lines. In 1851 it was given, somewhat altered, by Dr. Rorison in his Hymns and Anthems, No. 81. In the Anglican Hymn Book, 2nd edition, 1871, No. 152, it is altered to "Come, once more with songs descending."

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

[Angels come on joyous pinion]


REGENT SQUARE (Smart)

Henry T. Smart (PHH 233) composed REGENT SQUARE for the Horatius Bonar (PHH 260) doxology "Glory be to God the Father." The tune was first published in the English Presbyterian Church's Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (1867), of which Smart was music editor. Because the text editor of that hymna…

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The Cyber Hymnal #8602
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The Cyber Hymnal #8602

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